DOWNTON ABBEY: Season 4: Paul Giamatti + others cast in TV show

Paul Giamatti cast in Downton Abbey Season 4. The casting of Paul Giamatti in season 4 of Downton Abbey raises a question mark for the ITV and PBS TV series. “Paul Giamatti will play Cora’s (Elizabeth McGovern) maverick and playboy brother Harold in…Season 4 [‘s Christmas Special]. He was spoke of in season 2 and 3 of Downton Abbey if memory serves.

Downton Abbey is a British period drama television series created by Julian Fellowes and co-produced by Carnival Films and Masterpiece. It first aired on ITV in the United Kingdom on 26 September 2010 and on PBS in the United States on 9 January 2011 as part of the Masterpiece Classic anthology.

The series, set in the Yorkshire country estate of Downton Abbey, depicts the lives of the aristocratic Crawley family and their servants in the post-Edwardian era — with the great events in history having an effect on their lives and on the British social hierarchy. Such events depicted throughout the series include news of the sinking of the RMS Titanic in the first series; the outbreak of World War I, the Spanish influenza pandemic, and the Marconi scandal in the second series; and the Interwar period and the formation of the Irish Free State in the third series.

Downton Abbey has received critical acclaim from television critics and won numerous accolades, including a Golden Globe Award for Best Miniseries or Television Film and a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Miniseries. It was recognised by Guinness World Records as the most critically acclaimed English-language television series of 2011. It earned the most nominations of any international television series in the history of the Primetime Emmy Awards, with twenty-seven in total (after two seasons). It was the most watched television series on both ITV and PBS, and subsequently became the most successful British costume drama series since the 1981 television serial of Brideshead Revisited. By the third series, it had become one of the most widely watched television shows in the world.

On season four of Downton Abbey:

On 23 November 2012, ITV announced that a fourth series had been commissioned and that filming would begin in February 2013. The series is set to air in the autumn of 2013 in the UK while there will be a 5 January 2014 airing in the US on PBS.

On ITV, the Downton Abbey official website has released some information about series four. Viewers will find Lady Mary Crawley mourning her husband Matthew Crawley, who died six months earlier in a car crash. Matthew had just visited his wife and new baby son George in hospital, and was returning to see his family when his car overturned, killing the heir to Downton. Viewers will find out whether Lady Mary will find happiness again in the new series of Downton Abbey.

In March 2013, it was announced that new cast members have joined series four: actor Tom Cullen as Lord Anthony Gillingham, an old Crawley family friend whose history with Lady Mary dates back to childhood; actor Nigel Harman as a visiting valet named Green; Dame Harriet Walter as Violet’s friend Lady Shackleton; Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, who will play a singing house guest; Joanna David, who will guest star as the Duchess of Yeovil; and Julian Ovenden as the aristocrat Charles Blake. Returning to the series four in the 2013 Christmas episode will be Shirley MacLaine, who will reprise her role as Cora’s mother, Martha Levinson. There will also be at least three other characters: a nanny for the children, a drunkard named Sir John Bullock, and the show’s first black character: jazz musician and singer Jack Ross. Ross, who will ignite some race-related controversy, will be portrayed by Gary Carr.

Actress Siobhan Finneran, who played lady’s maid Sarah O’Brien, will not be returning in series four. A rep for the ITV series has confirmed the departure, but said that the character would not be killed off and could return in the future.

Leave your thoughts on Paul Giamatti and the other actors that are joining season 4 of Downton Abbey below in the comments section. For more Downton Abbey photos, videos, and information, visit our Downton Abbey Page, subscribe to us by Email, “follow” us on Twitter, Tumblr, or “like” us on Facebook. Downton Abbey: Season 4 will premiere on PBS on January 5, 2014 and in September on ITV.

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Rollo Tomasi

A Political Science and MBA grad who started FilmBook during an eCommerce B-School course in 2008. Cinema and TV addict. Former writer at Empire Movies, Blogcritics, and Alternative Film Guide. In addition to writing for FilmBook, he also edits the copy published on the website, manages its writing staff, manages the back-end operations, site finances, its social network accounts, and works with publicists, actors, and companies on press coverage and promotions. He has also created ProMovieBlogger.com and Trending Awards.com.